Why are you turning hot lead into cold one?

That is a very good question – we strive for hot leads as they are one step before purchasing. Anyone in sales knows the definition of cold or hot lead and also knows how difficult it is to turn cold one to hot one. So why does it happen that a lot of companies/sales representatives, mostly unconsciously, go from hot to cold?

What makes you buy? And I am not talking about items of first necessity. Emotions. Emotions always take over rational thinking – even in corporate purchasing, decisions are made by people and we are emotional beings. Big shops are masters in emotion boosting – smell of freshly baked donuts when you walk along the alley… Emotions with right rational justification equals deal.

But somehow sales representatives, even when hot lead knocks into their doors, tend to cool leads engagement. And from my experience it happens when we stop treating our customers the way we would like to be served – we get lazy. Each of us had the same story and another one happened to me recently. As a group of friends we wanted to purchase land next to the seaside. We checked the maps, we went to see the place and we met with a real estate agent. Place is beautiful, 500m to the beach – so we were hot. During our conversation with the agent I got the feeling that she does not want to sell this land. We asked specific questions regarding purchasing, law and the possibility of building a small cottage and none of those questions were answered. Most of the answers were shallow and not precise – which in the end made us think about what is wrong with the land. So we went from super hot to warm. Further contacts to narrow down our doubts and clear some legal issues were exactly the same – boom went cool. Most of the information we got on our own and finally we resigned from the deal. Real estate agent marketing itself as professional made beginners mistakes – she was lazy.

Above is one of many examples of the cooling process – it does not matter if it’s a new car, clothes or machines. As sales representatives our goal is to help that hot lead get what it wants and not the opposite. From my observation I can list few key aspects that one should comply with:

• serve you customer like you would like to be served
• KNOW what you are doing/selling
• be “the support” for your customer – think ahead what the customer needs for making the decision / what information he may need.
• make them tell their story – people like to talk and be listened to
• ask for the order

Next time you will be approached by a hot lead – do your homework and support him through the purchasing process. It is not hard to close the deal, but it is easier to lose it.